RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE

Isaiah 48:12-13 "Listen to me,...I alone am God, the First and the Last. It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth, my right hand that spread out the heavens above. When I call out the stars they all appear in order."

When we read those verses a few times and let them sink in they give us great confidence. The next time we look up at the stars, we can have complete assurance that God put them there and they do exactly what He tells them to so we see them every night.😊 He's powerful!

It lets me know we're not in this thing we call life on our own and we can relax because God is in our lives and He's so powerful He can hold the planets in their orbit. When we really think about that we know that just as He holds the stars in place, He holds our lives in place too. He is so much bigger than our problems and we can turn to Him in faith for His help any time. 

Jesus said not to worry because He knew His Father holds us safely in the palm of His mighty hand. He knew that nothing is impossible to God, so we would know we can give Him our cares.

Jesus constantly showed us His Father by the things He said and the miracles He performed. He was showing us how powerful He is, how compassionate and how 'right there in the middle' He is. Jesus hung on the cross in the middle of two sinners for our sake so He could be in the middle of our lives now too.

So whatever life may bring, as we look up at the stars, let His peace enter in because God is holding not only the universe, but our lives too. He's in the middle of our lives, we're safe in His hands and He loves us with an everlasting love. Thank You Lord.

GOD'S WAY FOR US

Philippians 3:9-10 ...I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law, rather I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.

We all have thoughts and ways which have probably been ingrained into us through tradition or upbringing or culture so it's not always easy to give them up if they're different to God's ways or thoughts. I have to remind myself that God knows best and if He says give up that way or thought it's for my own good!

For instance if we feel condemned about something we need to let it go because God wants us to update our 'believing right' software in our heads!

God's way depends on faith in what God has done for us in Jesus because Jesus fulfilled all the law for us because He knew we could not. When I was growing up our Christianity was inclined to be performance based. You shall not.. You must ....! But we forgot God's grace which is all about what Jesus has already done for us at the cross and we can't add to it. 

He has taken all our sin and condemnation, our failures and mistakes, our sicknesses into Himself and taken the punishment for them all, once and for all. And then He wonderfully gave us His very own righteousness, healing and wholeness in their place. When we believe and receive that, we have God's thinking and God's way in Christ.

God approves of us because our faith is in Jesus, not because we do things right.

Thank You Lord we can be at peace and rest in what Jesus has already done for us, that You approve of us because of Him. Amen.

CITIZENS OF HEAVEN

Philippians 3:20-21 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them in to glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

Children eagerly wait for Christmas, or we may be eagerly waiting for a holiday or family visit.  All those things are lovely but they're tied to this earth and are only temporary. Paul is lifting our eyes up to something much bigger and awe inspiring that we're waiting for.

He reminds us, although we live here, we're not citizens of earth any more, this is not our home, instead God has made us Christ's ambassadors here on a temporary residency, for however long we live. 

If Jesus is our Saviour then our real citizenship is in heaven which is quite mind boggling! We are citizens of heaven, not will be, we are now!  He gives us such hope as he continues to remind us we've got new glorious bodies coming like Jesus' resurrected body and that is really something to look forward to, don't you think!?

Yesterday we looked at rejoicing in the Lord and that is definitely something to rejoice about.😊 No wonder Paul says 'we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our Saviour.' Jesus also talked about the day He would be coming back for us when He's made everything ready.

The Rapture of the Church could be any time and Jesus asked if He would find faith on the earth when He returns. So let's encourage each other to stir up our faith and remember we're already citizens of God's heaven, He's preparing us a place there which will be amazing, and Jesus is our soon coming King. Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus, we're eagerly waiting. 😊

WHATEVER HAPPENS!

Philippians 3:1 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord!....

Apostle Paul was in prison for the sake of the gospel when he wrote those words, and I would think it was awful and yet he says, "Whatever happens!" The Holy Spirit is speaking through him to say no matter what you may have lost, whatever may be happening or whatever awful thing has happened, He says to remember that we have not lost our Saviour or His salvation. 

We still have God living on the inside of us, God still loves us and always will, He will never abandon us and there is always hope in Him. We can rejoice in those things.

He doesn't say rejoice about what has happened to you, but to rejoice because all is not lost because we still have Jesus and nothing is impossible with Him.

He goes on to say" ...I never get tired of telling you these things, and do it to safeguard your faith."

He's saying as long as we keep remembering to rejoice in what God has done for us through Jesus, in forgiving all our sins, in rescuing us from going to Hell, in giving us His righteousness and grace, in giving us His promises, as long as we keep rejoicing in those things, our faith will remain steady and we wont wobble.

When we're tempted to focus on the upsetting, or bad things that may be happening, let's turn things around instead with praise, because we know praise defeats the enemy, and when we rejoice we're defeating the enemy big time which is what we want.

Whatever happens nothing and nobody can take Jesus from us and there is always hope as we keep our trust and confidence in Him, so we can rejoice in the Lord today. 😊

Help us to remember that Lord and to do it. Amen. 

TALK TO YOURSELF

Psalm 1:3 Blessed is the man .... whose delight is in the law of the Lord,  And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth it's fruit in it's season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

The Holy Spirit encourages us to not just read God's word but to meditate in it. The margin of my bible says to meditate means 'ponder by talking to himself'. Do you ever find yourself talking to yourself? I think we all do it sometimes and it can be good or bad depending on what we're saying! 😊

God is actually telling us here to talk scriptures to ourselves, to ponder on them, mull them over in our minds, then speak them out. In other words, under our breath, all through the day, we keep saying what God says in His word that He loves us deeply, that we're forgiven, that we're strong in Him, that He's for us, that He's working things out for our good, that we're blessed because He's made us righteous, and so on.

He promises that when we do that then we shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that we shall bring forth fruit, our leaf shall not wither and whatever we do shall prosper. (v.3) It doesn't say we might, it says we shall!

What a wonderful incentive to keep God's word constantly coming out of our mouths! 😊 

So if we've been talking to ourselves and muttering under our breath about the cost of living increasing or whatever, as we start a new week, let's instead start doing some pondering and talking God's word to ourselves all through each day and see our lives begin to prosper more and more. 

Have a blessed week. 😊

GOD HASN'T CHANGED

Malachi 3:6 

For I am the Lord, and I change not:....

Yesterday we went to Melbourne which is a pretty little town in Derbyshire and visited their parish church which is so old it was apparently built in 1120 during the reign of King Henry I !

As we were walking round the church and I touched the ancient stone walls I had such a sense of God being outside of time, that He's the same God the people had been worshipping there in the 12th Century, who walked with Adam in the Garden of Eden, that we worship now. He is the God who doesn't change and He loved the people then just like He loves us now.

They were reading the same scriptures and comforted and inspired by them then, just as we are now. God is still good and His mercy still endures forever.  

When we think of how we're here for such a short space of time in the big scheme of things, it's wonderful to me how God says we are so very precious to Him and that we actually matter to Him to such an extent He sent Jesus to die for every one of us so we could be with Him. 

There was an old tombstone inside which said the man who had died "has exchanged time for eternity".

We all seem caught up in watching the clock, the years flying by so fast, but one day we shall all exchange time for eternity and what a wonderful, glorious thought that if Jesus is our Saviour we shall spend it with our loving Father God who will never change, and we'll see Jesus face to face.

Glory to His Name.

OUR CONFIDENCE IS IN HIM

Jeremiah 17:7-8 But blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. 

Yesterday we finished off with our declaration 'I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might' and it made me start to think.

I expect in all our lives there are times when we don't feel very confident. Things happen which knock us sideways and may even lead us to have an inferiority complex for one reason or another. If we compare ourselves to others who we think are more able, more gifted, etc. we can begin to feel 'less than' which undermines our confidence. Anyone feel like that sometimes?

The good news is that we can live in confidence because of His strength. The only thing we need is the Lord Himself who never leaves us and our total confidence is in Him. He is the One who is equipping us for the life we have right now and what He has for us to do. We no longer need to depend on our own abilities, or worry about our weaknesses, because we can be strong by depending on the power of His might and His supernatural ability inside us, not ours. 

God only wants us to run our own race, not someone else's, and He is giving us the strength and power to do just that.😊

Please be encouraged today, you are a confident, well able person, you are a 'can do' person because your confidence is not in yourself, it is in Jesus our Saviour, our Healer, Provider and Protector, our Everything and as we said yesterday, He is living inside us by the Holy Spirit. The Greater One is in you and me!

Would you like to join me in speaking out this declaration over our lives today, based on our verse?... 

"I am blessed because I'm trusting in the Lord and my confidence is in Him. 

I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Thank You Lord."

Enjoy a blessed weekend.😊

GREATNESS ON THE INSIDE OF US

1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

I have good news! There is greatness living on the inside of you and me! At the new birth, when we asked Jesus to be our Lord and Saviour, the Holy Spirit came to live in us to empower us from the inside out. 

Romans 8:11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.  These scriptures remind us how powerful the Holy Spirit is and not to forget He's living inside us.

The Holy Spirit is greater than absolutely anything and everything that is thrown at us or comes against us. He is more powerful than every disease, every circumstance, every threat and He proved it by raising Jesus from Hell at the resurrection. He is the Greater One, and I know I need to get my head around the fact that He is inside me right now. Maybe you do too?

When scripture says we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us it means we have His Spirit to draw on to overcome whatever troubles us on any level. Jesus said He would not abandon us or leave us alone and He meant it. We're not meant to do life on our own, in our own strength. We're meant to do it with the Holy Spirit who is there to counsel us, help us, strengthen us and empower us. 

So can I encourage us all, including me, to remember who we are and hold our heads up as we go out into our day because we are children of the Most High God, His Holy Spirit actually lives inside us and is available for us to call on to overcome whatever is bothering us, whether it's fatigue, health issues, finances or anything else. 

Yesterday I had to make a difficult phone call to a business so I reminded myself I was a child of the Most High God and that I could do this with His help. That phone call went really well and I felt so good after it. The Holy Spirit gave me His 'I can do'. 😊

We have His greatness on the inside of us, His great joy, His great patience, His great peace, His great 'can do' power, so let's rest in Jesus and draw on Him today. Amen.

Ephesians 6:10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

All through your day keep declaring: I am strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Thank You Lord!

GOD HAS A SUDDENLY LINED UP

2 Chronicles 29:36 Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people, since the events took place so suddenly.

I love it when good things happen suddenly and I think God is like that too because He's the God of the 'suddenlies'. Earlier this year we suddenly had a phone call from Australia to say our close family out there, who we hadn't seen for several years, were going to be coming to see us the following week! - it was a wonderful 'suddenly'. I had thought it would be impossible for them to all come to see us but nothing is impossible with our God and He can do the impossible suddenly! 

Our verse talks about events that took place so suddenly and it was God who orchestrated them for the people. I believe He's lining up some 'suddenlies' for us too.

Acts 16:25-26 tells us that Paul and Silas were suddenly delivered out of the prison. Things looked hopeless for them but God had a suddenly!

Acts 2:1-2 says the Holy Spirit came suddenly and filled all the house they were sitting in. Sometimes God's suddenlies are huge and life changing!

They were wonderful 'suddenlies' full of blessing  and release -  I like those kinds of suddenlies don't you?!😊

In Isaiah 48:3 God says "I have declared the former things from the beginning; They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did them and they came to pass.

Maybe we've been waiting a long time for God's promises to be fulfilled, or for a prophecy to unfold and we've been a bit downhearted about it, but be encouraged because God wants us to know He has some of His special suddenlies lined up for us and to be looking for them.

Let's get ready to rejoice because God is about to do one of His suddenlies in our lives too. 

Thank You Lord, help us to have believing hearts open to your sudden breakthroughs and blessings, to remember not one word of your promises has ever failed.  Amen.😊

FORGIVING WHEN IT'S HARD

Ephesians 4:31-32 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

It's easy to read those words but they can be hard to do! When someone deeply hurts or offends us or someone we love, it's not easy to go beyond our feelings to forgive them and then be kind to them!

When we choose to not forgive someone it doesn't do them any harm but it does eat away at us and  harm us and God doesn't want us any more hurt than we already are. So the good news is that although in the natural we can't do it, because the Spirit of Jesus is in us, we can call on Him and ask Him to do it through us. (I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.) 

Maybe it would help to remember how much God has forgiven us so we can extend that same forgiveness to others, to remember we're sowing a seed of forgiveness and kindness so we will reap a harvest of forgiveness and kindness ourselves when we need it in the future. I know it's helped me.

Being kind and forgiving when we don't want to be, is actually an act of our will, and sometimes we can only do it by faith, knowing that as we do it we're coming up higher and doing what God wants us to. I think as we turn to the Lord for help we can believe Him to take the sting out of our feelings and ask Him to heal them so we can let His love which is in us flow out to others.

So can I encourage us all today to not just be kind and tenderhearted but to let go of any bitterness and anger we've allowed to build up. Let's take them to Jesus at the cross and see Him taking it all into Himself and giving us His freedom from it at the same time. As we said yesterday, let Him 'save' us from those things that trouble us so.😊 Amen.

RETURN AND REST

Isaiah 30:15 This is what the sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength.

This verse is special to me as it's the one the Lord used to bring me back to Him when I had sadly backslidden in my twenties. I was in such a mess and fell on my knees and called out to God for help. I opened my bible and this is the verse I read.

I did what it said, and returned to the Lord, asked Him to forgive me for all my sin and began to rest once again in Him and put my confidence in Him as I had lost all my own confidence. Gradually, over a period of quite a while He began to put me back together again, building me back up where I was crumbled and broken, one brick at a time.

I'm so thankful for His forgiveness, for His gift of His righteousness and because He is a merciful God who restores and heals us from the inside out.

The lovely thing is, this verse is for us today and every day, not just if we've backslidden or crumbled. The word 'saved' there means to be set free, to be safe, avenged, defended, delivered and helped. It means to get victory, and to be rescued.  We're often not aware of it, but the Lord is doing those things for all of us every day, whether we realise it or not. 

He's not just our eternal Saviour, He's our daily Saviour, our moment by moment Saviour and I thank God for that.

So whatever is going on in our lives at the minute we know we can turn to the Lord over and over again. We can rest peacefully in Him and let Him help us, and allow Him to do all those other things I've listed above. 

Let's put all our confidence in Him and have a sense of His peace as we allow Him to minister His love and grace to us so we can regain our strength and joy whenever we need to.😊 And let's give Jesus all the glory for He is our wonderful Saviour. Amen.

GOD'S WONDERFUL GIFT

Psalm 97:11(Amp.)  Light is sown for the righteous and strewn along their pathway, and joy for the upright in heart (the irrepressible joy which comes from consciousness of His favor and protection).

I wonder if you're like me and conscious of  your own shortcoming and failures sometimes. We beat ourselves up if we've said or done something wrong and wont let it go. When we do that we're being sin conscious but the wonderful good news is that if we believe in Jesus we know He has wiped all our sin away and He doesn't want us to be sin conscious any more. He wants us to be righteousness conscious because He's made us righteous in His eyes!

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

God wants us to be filled with joy because we're conscious of His gift of righteousness all the time. His righteousness is His very own nature and it gives us His favour and protection.  

Romans 5:17 ...But even greater is God's wonderful grace, and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

As we begin a new week let's enjoy being so conscious of having been made righteous, remembering our sins are forgiven, of God protecting us wherever we go and of His amazing grace and favour being on our lives - all because of Jesus our wonderful Saviour and His wonderful gift of righteousness. 

Thank You Lord!

TRUST IN THE LORD ALWAYS

Isaiah 26:4  (Nlt)

Trust in the Lord always, 

for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.

I'm so glad it doesn't say Trust in the Lord sometimes! No, it says we can trust the Lord all the time because He is our eternal Rock - He is here with us forever and ever, rock solid!

Another scripture says to trust in the Lord with all of your heart and not lean on what you think you know but to seek His will in all you do. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

So we're constantly told by God to trust Him all the time, in all circumstances and with all of our heart. That's a lot of 'all's'! 

Psalm 56:3-4 But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?

It just let's us know that no matter what situation we're in, no matter what it looks or feels like, we can trust the Lord to help us and rescue us because He is our God.

Psalm 91:2 This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust Him. 

And if you'd like more encouragement to keep trusting God, carry on reading Psalm 91 because it goes on to list all the benefits when we do.😊

STANDING GUARD

1 Peter 5:8-9 (YV) Be on your guard and stay awake. Your enemy, the devil, is like a roaring lion, sneaking around to find someone to attack. But you must resist the devil and stay strong in your faith....

Years ago we used to keep hamsters which we loved, but they could wreak havoc if you didn't watch them. When we let them out for a run we had to stand guard all the time because they loved to chew anything in sight! On one occasion it was the door bell wire - he chewed it right through in seconds! Then there was the day I'd left laundry next to his cage and he'd managed to pull an heirloom baby blanket through the wires and chewed a great hole in it for his nest! He was not popular that day but it was our own fault - we weren't watching!!

You can guess where I'm going with this because in the same way that we had to stand guard with the hamsters we have to be on the alert and stand guard against our enemy the devil.

We're told to resist him and not let him walk all over us. For instance when I get a pain I'll say "No you don't, I'm not letting you even start."  I'm standing guard and we may need to do it with a load of different things but I hope you get my drift.

Ephesians 6:10-11 ...Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.

We don't have to bow to the enemy's tactics because Jesus is standing with us and He's given us His power and the victory over everything the devil tries to throw at us. So let's stand guard, get our armour on and resist him in Jesus' name, knowing Jesus has pulled his teeth out and we have the victory! 

Have a lovely weekend and if you have a hamster keep your eye on it!😊

RECEIVE AT HIS THRONE OF GRACE

Hebrews 4:16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

When I was thinking about how much God loves us yesterday I remembered that whatever God gives us is wrapped up in His love, in fact you could say it comes infused with His love. For example, He has promised He is restoring health to us, so the healing and health He is giving us is infused with His powerful love and we know His love never fails which gives us confidence to receive it. How reassuring that is.

God never gives anything to us begrudgingly or in a stingy way, He's the God of more than enough, of overflow. He pours His love on us like a mighty waterfall, and everything we need in life pours out from that love to us. It's like standing under the Niagara Falls but instead it's His love that's cascading down all over us. 

Scripture reminds us that He 'freely' gives us all things, that He'll withhold no good thing from us, that His favour surrounds us like a shield. Now if all those are true, and they are, then whatever our need is, He wants to provide it for us, because Jesus paid such a high price for it but we have to do the receiving!!

So come to His throne of grace today and freely receive whatever it is you need, knowing it's all wrapped up in the love and grace of God for you and He wants you to have it. Thank You Lord.😊

THE LORD LOVES YOU

Romans 5:5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

What a comfort to know God loves us dearly which is such a close term of endearment isn't it? That's not a distant love, it's a love that wraps us up and draws us close to Him and holds us tight. It says the Holy Spirit's mission is to fill our hearts with God's love till we're so full that we just overflow with it. Maybe you're like me and need to let that soak in, to really believe God loves us that much especially when we don't feel very lovable! 

Jesus said in John 14:20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

We know God is love so I like to think of it this way - Jesus is in His Father and in His love, and we are in Jesus and in His love, and Jesus and His love are in us. Whatever way we turn we're surrounded by God and His love. If we turn to the right or the left we bump into His love! What an amazing thought that is!

If ever we doubt God's love for us just look at Jesus on the Cross and we know how much God loves us and has put that same love in our hearts too. How wonderful is God's love for you and me. Thank You Lord. Let's take a minute and just soak in it today. 😊

1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.....

A VALLEY OF BLESSING

1 Samuel 17:46 Then David said...This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you....

Although we all go through valleys God wants us to know none of those experiences are wasted and He can turn our valley of sickness or defeat, our valley of failure or despair into a valley of victory and blessing.

When the soldiers faced Goliath they 'thought' it was certain defeat because all they could see was the size of the giant and how he made them feel because they 'thought' they could never overcome him and they said so.

But David thought like God and instead he saw himself with the victory, he saw his enemy beneath his feet even before he ran at Goliath. What he thought, he believed and he spoke it. What he spoke, he saw come to pass. 

What giants do we see every day looming up in front of us, upsetting us?  We may see the valley we're in as defeat and despair, but God wants us to see success and victory because we know Jesus has already won the battle. 

Can I encourage us to think like David and believe God's promises that He will do everything He promised and speak them out over our lives. 

David spoke to his giant and whatever our giants are, whether sickness, lack, fear, whatever, we can speak to our giants too because God has made us overcomers.  

"Jesus has given me the victory over you giant of ............. and you're coming down in Jesus' name. I may not feel well right now but God is restoring health to me, His life giving promises are coursing through my veins bringing healing. There may be big bills coming but God will provide all I need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Fear  - I tell you to bow the knee to Jesus, you're under my feet and I believe God is turning this valley of what may look like defeat, into my valley of blessing and victory, in Jesus' Name." 

YOU HAVE A GOOD HEART

Luke 6:43-45 A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thorn bushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.

The other day we walked by a damson tree absolutely laden with ripe damsons. The whole house and garden looked derelict but I knocked on the door to ask permission to pick their damsons hanging over the pavement but no one lived there anymore. It was totally abandoned, so rather than let the fruit waste and rot on the ground we picked a whole load and brought them home. (I hope whoever owns it won't mind!) I've since made nearly 12 jars of beautiful damson jam - yummy on toast! If you live near by and would like some let me know.😊 The lovely thing is, we've just had to cut our plum tree down but the Lord provided fruit for us anyway. How kind He is to us.

Jesus likened the fruit of a good fruiting tree (like that damson tree) to our own hearts. I know sometimes I might say something which is not good and it shows me I've let my heart have a wrong attitude or that I'm harbouring unforgiveness about something. But God has given us a new heart, a new spirit in us that bears lovely fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He has provided the fruit for us!

Psalm 92:14 says we'll still bear fruit in our old age and be vital and green so we never stop bearing fruit no matter how old we are which is good news!😊

So be encouraged to let all that lovely fruit out and bless someone with it today. Let it flow out in the good things you say, out of your good heart. You'll be amazed how your heart can produce something as lovely as my damson jam.😊

TRANSFORM FROWNS TO SMILES

Isaiah 8:11 The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. 

God said that to Isaiah hundreds of years ago and He's saying the same thing to us today "Don't think like everyone else does" because what they're thinking may not be based on the word of God which is the truth.

Romans 12:2 (Nlt) Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

The other day we looked at believing right which comes as a result of thinking right and God is the only One who can help us with that, He's the One doing the transforming - if we let Him!

Next time you feel down or depressed consider what you'd been thinking about to make you feel that way. Like me, when I feel like that, you were probably thinking about what you see in front of you just like everybody else does, and had forgotten to think on God's promises which are full of hope and faith. 

God wants us to allow Him to transform our thinking about things so we'll be uplifted and encouraged but also to change our circumstances. If you need some encouragement maybe have a look back at some of the previous blogs which I trust will help lift you back up again and help you to think like God thinks - that nothing is too hard or too difficult for  Him, that He's working everything out for your good no matter what you've thought before or what it looks like! 

The thoughts He wants us to think are what He says about Himself and us in His word, so let's ask Him to help us think some God thoughts today and be cheered up. Let Him transform any frowns into smiles as we begin our new week. 😊

WE HAVE A GOOD SHEPHERD

Psalm 23 (Nlt)

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.

He lets me rest in green meadows;

he leads me beside peaceful streams.

He renews my strength.

He guides me along right paths,

bringing honor to his name.

Even when I walk through the darkest valley, 

I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me; 

Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

Psalm 95 (Nlt)

We are the people he watches over,

the flock under his care.

We are so blessed because we have the good Shepherd taking care of us and watching over us every day of our lives. When we follow His lead we will walk in the right paths and He assures us that even when that path is at its darkest we wont need to be afraid because He's right there walking beside us, holding our hand and holding us up through it all.

How wonderful to be a sheep when Jesus is our Shepherd.😊

KEEP BELIEVING RIGHT

2 Chronicles 20:20 ...Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.

Everyone wants to be able to stand firm and succeed and God wants us to as well.  It brings Him great pleasure when He sees His people looking to Him and expecting Him to help and strengthen them, to deliver them out of situations they can do nothing about themselves, to bless them. He wants us to know He's on it, whatever it is, because we belong to Him and He loves us.

God wants us to get our believing right.  We're often tempted to believe what we can see instead of believing what God says in His word, or to put the doctor's word over God's word. God is delighted when we exercise our faith, agree with His word and declare "All will be well for the godly." (Isaiah 3:10) Things may not look well but God has said that what the enemy meant for our harm, He means to turn around for our good and He's given us strength for every battle. Now our part is to believe that and keep our faith firm in Him.

Keep believing God is a good, generous God who has good things stored up for us, that we are safe in the palm of His hand and nothing shall by any means harm us. Keep believing He is the God who watches over us and preserves our lives. Keep believing He has assigned angels to minister to us and that we're surrounded by His favour like a shield.

We can keep believing His great love for us makes the difference in our today, right now, right where we are because of Jesus.

He says keep believing right and we will stand firm and succeed. Thank You Lord.😊

JESUS OUR KING OF KINGS

1 Timothy 2:1 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

After the sad news yesterday, we wake up in the UK today to a new era and a new king for the first time in 70 years and as scripture urges us, we pray for him, that the Lord gives him all the wisdom, strength and ability he needs to fill his calling as King.

Our Queen was an amazing lady, so faithful to the people she served and I'm sure she will be greatly missed. I used to like to hear her speech every Christmas afternoon when she always referred to her faith in her Saviour. 

We thank God for her life and her witness to her faith in Jesus and praise God she will be rejoicing in heaven now with her King of Kings face to face.

So whether we are a king or queen, or a person in the street, we look to our Saviour. What a glorious hope we all have in Jesus, who is our King of Kings and Lord of Lords who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. (Revelation 1:5) For those of us who believe in Him we shall all bow before His throne one day and give Him all the glory. Praise His wonderful name for His great goodness and mercy to us.

Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him, be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

GOD'S STORED UP GOODNESS FOR US

Psalm 31:19 Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men. (Nkjv)

If you like home made chutney then you'll like what I've been doing for the past couple of weeks. We've been out in the countryside picking blackberries and finding windfall apples and I've made loads of jars of  Apple, Date and Sultana Chutney.  Not content with that, I've engraved pretty pictures on the glass jars and painted their lids to make them more special because some will be for presents at Christmas when they've matured. I've prepared my goodies ready to give some away.😊

In the same way only on a different scale altogether, God has prepared and stored up for us something special, His great goodness, for those of us who are trusting in Him. The New Living Translation says How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you. You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world.

Isn't that a wonderful thought? God is not stingy with us. He has things stored up for us that will blow our socks off and He wants us to have a picture of that in our minds so we can have something lovely to hope for. He says He's going to bless us so much the watching world will notice which means it’s in this life! It must be something good!😊

So be encouraged and keep looking up and trusting our good God. He has great and good things coming. Thank You Lord.

And here's some of my chutney!😊

SEARCH FOR THE GOOD

Proverbs 11:27 If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!

This is an interesting little verse with a warning which shows we can choose to search for the good in life or we can look for the bad things to complain about and be an old Eeyore! There's usually two ways to look at something and depending on how we look at life will tell us quite a lot about ourselves. 

For instance two prisoners look out of prison bars, one sees mud the other sees stars. If you have a garden don't look at the fallen leaves, look at the flowers. It's the old glass half full or half empty thing. Do we always look for the worst, or do we look for the good in people or situations?

My washing line snapped yesterday morning just as I was finishing pegging the last item up and the line was full! As it all fell to the ground I didn't throw a wobbly, you'll be pleased to know, but was very resigned and just unpegged it all and put it on the other line. When my husband came outside he looked on the bright side and said how good it was I was there at the moment it broke so it wasn't left on the ground for hours getting all dirty again! I realised he was absolutely right and in the end was grateful it happened when it did.😊

That's just a silly example, but life tends to have quite a few of those little moments and we can help ourselves an awful lot by choosing to find something good or positive in them if we can. We can be grumpy or we can choose to look on the bright side. We can complain and remain, or praise and be raised!

So whenever we can, let's look for the good and find favour and refuse to look for the bad which scripture says draws bad to us. In fact, let's go on a treasure hunt for good today and see what we find. 😊😊

MERCY IS FOR ALL

Psalm 136:1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! For his mercy endures for ever.

I was reminded yesterday to have a heart of mercy. In other words to not be judgemental or critical but to try to see the other person through eyes of love, through God's eyes. It's so easy to criticise but we don't know the other person's background, the traumas they've had to deal with or what they're going through at any given time. It's only by the grace and mercy of God that we're not in the same situation.

God has shown me my wrong attitude and He wants to remind us all that just because they may not behave like us or come from the same value system doesn't mean we can't love them. It means they've been raised differently, been taught differently and God asks us to show some understanding and mercy because that's what God does. While we were still sinners Christ died for us! (Romans  5:6)

Thank God He is a good God to us and His mercy is for everyone. We've all received His mercy over and over again so now it's our turn to pass His mercy on to someone else who needs it. It might be a neighbour who may not fit in, it could be the person behind a counter or at work who's grouchy and unreasonable, it could be a family member who's having a tough time at work or school. God wants us to pray for them, not jump on them.

Whoever it is, and whatever they're doing, with God's help we can rise to the challenge to help lift someone else up this week and show some understanding and compassion, to not take offence when they don't behave the way we'd like and let God love them through us.😊 Lord, help us be merciful.

Matthew 5:7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

 

LOOK UP AND HOPE AGAIN

Romans 5:5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

There was an occasion when there were ten very discouraged and dejected  lepers standing off at a distance when they saw Jesus coming into the village, so they shouted out "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" (Luke 17)

They knew that whenever Jesus appeared on the scene there was hope - hope for being healed which meant hope for their future to be transformed, and hope of being restored to their families and friends, and they weren't disappointed.

Psalm 42:11 the psalmist says "Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again - my Savior and my God! God wants us to remember as we start our new week that even though we may have been discouraged by circumstances or events, we can get our hopes up again because Jesus is on the scene of our lives and where He is, we can have a confident expectation of good - bible hope.

Be encouraged it's OK to put our hope in God, in Jesus, and all He achieved for us. God wants us to hope because without it our faith has nothing to hold on to. He wants us to believe for better days ahead, for Him to turn things around for our good, for our health to be restored, for our finances to meet our needs. His plans are to lift us up and fill us with His peace and purpose, to take away the frowns and anxieties and give us His joy and a smile.

Our faith will grow when we get our hopes up, so look up and hope again. Our verse says it wont lead to disappointment. Now that's a wonderful promise to start the week with, don't you think!? 😊Thank You Jesus.

WE'RE BEING KEPT SAFE

Psalm 121 (Nlt)

I look up to the mountains- does my help come from there?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!

He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.

Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.

The Lord himself watches over you! 

The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.

The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.

The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.

The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,

both now and forever.

When we need help the Lord wants us to go to Him first because the Holy Spirit is our God given Helper. Like the Psalmist we can look to our God, the One who made it all in the first place which means He has all authority and all wisdom so we're in safe hands. He's the only One who can do the impossible for us.😊

I love the fact that He's watching over us all through the night as well as by day. He's here 24/7  and He's making sure we come to no harm, nothing can take Him by surprise.

When you go out your door and come in again each day, just spare a thought and thank the Lord He's not just watching over you but another translation says He's preserving your life as you come and go. How reassuring that is! No wonder the Lord says we don't need to be afraid because He's the One keeping us safe. Thank You Father.

TODAY IS THE DAY

2 Corinthians 6:2 For God says, "At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you."  Indeed, the "right time" is now. Today is the day of salvation.

I think it's lovely to know the "right time" is always 'now' in God's eyes. Whatever day it is, it's always the day of God's salvation until Jesus comes back for us. 

So what does salvation mean to us in the here and now because it includes far more than our sins forgiven and a home in heaven? The original word means being rescued or safe morally and physically, but it also means having well being  in every area of life which would include our finances and relationships. It means having health, healing and wholeness coursing through our bodies and minds. It means God's deliverance and protection. 

God says today is the day for all of that and it's yours and mine because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. God's grace covers it all and gave it to us. What a wonderful Saviour we have. 

But notice the verse before : 2 Corinthians 6:1 As God's partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God's kindness and then ignore it.

Apostle Paul was pleading with the Corinthian Christians to pay attention to this salvation that Jesus paid for with His life blood, not to ignore any part of it. In other words He was saying take hold of all of it today, everyday. Lay claim to it as your own, receive it daily not just once and then forget about it. It's already been bought and paid for by Jesus.

Just in case we've been ignoring any part of it let's read through those things again and do as he says. By faith take all of His salvation, just like we do for forgiveness of our sins, not just a bit of it, and let Him restore the full joy of our salvation to us today. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.😊

 

ENCOURAGEMENT HELPS

2 Corinthians 7:5-6 ....there was no rest for us. We faced conflict from every direction, with battles on the outside and fear on the inside. But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus.

The past couple of days we've looked at some ways of strengthening ourselves against our fears and today is the last one.  Paul was like us in that he faced many battles, one of which was fear on the inside. He was a man of faith and yet he still had to overcome fear, so be encouraged, we're not unusual or the only ones dealing with fears.

Paul explains one way that helps. He says when Titus came it was his encouragement that strengthened Paul. Receiving encouragement from others helps build us up to be strong to resist fear and fight our battles, and although we don't have Titus arriving on our doorstep we do have other Christian brothers and sisters who may phone, text or come alongside us. Only this week someone texted me which encouraged me when I really needed it. Yesterday we saw how scriptures encourage us to not be afraid and I hope this Blog also encourages someone to fight the good fight of faith.😊

Whatever form our encouragement comes in, it is sent by God to strengthen us in our faith, and faith in it's turn helps us to remember God is our Strong Tower, our Deliverer, our Shield to protect us from whatever we fear. God is for us so we're on the winning side!😊

Allow God's encouragements to flow into you today to help you stand strong in faith. God has placed His great overcoming power on the inside of you so you can speak to your fears and tell them to be removed and cast into the sea.  You can take authority over them and declare your freedom in Jesus' name because you are no longer a fearful slave but a child of the Most High God, greatly blessed, deeply loved and highly favoured by Him.😊

OVERCOMING FEAR

Psalm 34:4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears. 

Scripture tells us  to 'Fear not' 365 times and Jesus himself tells us to not be afraid which means He must have given us a way to deal with it or He would be unjust to tell us not to! God gave us a key when He said "Don't fear because I am with you."  

When I had to go for a liver biopsy many years ago I wrote Isaiah 41:10 on a piece of paper and held it in my hand all the time as I could feel fear rising up for what they would find. I needed to remind myself God was there with me the whole time, that He was helping me deal with it and strengthening me on the inside. 

God's faithful promises of His presence with us are our rock of assurance against every fear that comes knocking because He is the great I AM, there is no one greater, more powerful or more loving and He's promised to never leave us or abandon us.

Jesus knew we would need faith to fight fear and He went to the cross for us to overcome the grave and defeat every devil for us, including the spirit of fear. We can put our faith in Him and go to Him and say "I can't do this on my own, but I can with Your help. I call out to you Lord in faith and I believe You're strengthening me and helping me right now" and if it's bad, all we need is "Help me Jesus!"  

If there are days when we feel like scripture isn't working for us, we need to stop and remember Jesus is a real living person and He's present with us through His Holy Spirit all the time for us to talk to and relate to. He wants us to know the 'Fear not' verses are real and for us personally, they're not just trite words because He, the great I AM, is backing them and He cares about you so much.

Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 35:4, Psalm 56:3-4, Deut 3:22, Isaiah 43:1, Deut. 31:6, Psalm 23:4, Psalm 46:1-3, John 14:27, Psalm 91:4-5.